The third-largest town in the Northern Territory, Alice Springs is located in the Red Centre of Australia, and is the closest town centre to Ayers Rock at Uluru. Known originally as Mparntwe by the Arrernte Aboriginal people, the town was settled in 1872 when the Overland Telegraph Line was established, linking Adelaide and Darwin to Great Britain. Situated on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges, the town straddles the usually dry Todd River, with the Simpson Desert to the southeast of Alice Springs. The area is known for its many hiking trails and swimming holes, including Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge and the famous Larapinta Trail.

With a population of 25,186 (2011 Census), the Alice Springs economy relies mainly on a number of mining and pastoral communities within the region, and domestic and international tourism. Great Southern Railway’s The Ghan makes regular stops in Alice Springs on its route between Adelaide and Darwin, and tourists visiting Uluru and the Red Centre regularly fly out from Alice Springs.

The desert lifestyle in Alice Springs has inspired several unique events, such as the Alice Desert Festival Camel Cup, where jockeys ride camels instead of horses, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, where you’ll find boats but no water, and the Finke Desert Race, an off road, multi-terrain race across some 400 kilometres south of Alice Springs through parts of the Simpson Desert, across the Finke River (known as the oldest river in the world) and ending in Aputula Aboriginal community, at the southern edge of the Northern Territory.